Played the DEMO version 2.0 AND...

[Thule Esperada]

A bit of a continuation to my previous post. So I tried the updated demo out and I have to say; They managed to make the combat actually enjoyable. The camera is further away during battles and lock-on works a bit better now. You now have more combat actions available as well. You now have a manual dodge and changing weapons is actually usefull now, since they're actually different in speed and damage etc. MP cost for actions has been balanced better and the ammount of warpable cover has been increased, making both of them a lot more useful. A new combat addition is the ability to perform powerful combination attacks with one or more party members on enemies that have been knocked down, giving you more options in battle. The only downside to it is that it can only be used if your party members knock the enemy down, so you can't innitiate it on your own.

There is still some severe balancing issues regarding enemy health. The bigger enemies still have an unreasonable amount of hp, and fighting them takes forever. This is especialy bad when you have 15+ imperial troops dropped on you, as you have a severe lack crowd control techniques. A single skirmish with some buffalos can suddenly turn into a 20 minute struggle that just drags on and on as more troops keep swarming in. In the final game enemy health needs to be drastically lowered. Theres no need for the local wildlife to feel like boss monsters.

My critisisms regarding other aspects of the demo remain unchanged, but it's good to see that the people working on the game seriously want it to be as good as possible. With further improvements I just might regain my lost interest in getting XV.

 

[Emerson]

Thule: I'm going to have to disagree with you here... now I never made to be Behemoth before having to turn it off, (both 1.0 and 2.0 demo) so this is my feeling from very limited play time (due to lack of enjoyment)

They managed to make the combat actually enjoyable. The camera is further away during battles and lock-on works a bit better now.

I honestly feel the combat is still complete rubbish. The camera still feels like I'm right on top, most of the time I can not see what the other 3 are doing as they are to far off to the sides.

You now have a manual dodge and changing weapons is actually usefull now, since they're actually different in speed and damage etc.

The manual dodge, while there doesn't work 1/2 the time (bad timing parameters IMHO), and the different speed and damage with the weapons doesn't matter because 90% of the time you can't see anything because the second you kill a mob everyone is like 100 yards away and now you have to run/warp back but by then the mob is dead, so now you are standing there doing nothing because you can't get to a mob and you move to target another one and it runs off your screen out of camera angle, so now you have to track it down .... grrrr.

Of course doesn't help that I view action RPGs are annoying (Sorry if I want to play an Action RPG I'll play Gauntlet)

sigh... I really don't want to see the FF die in my heart this way.

 

[Thule Esperada]

I can see where you're coming from. The combat is still far from perfect. I would rank the un-patched combat at like 4/10 or something, while the new one is more like a 6/10 or 7/10 at best. And yeah, I have definately played way better action rpgs than this as well. It still needs way more polishing before I'd consider getting the full game or recommend it to others. When it comes to Final Fantasy XV, I refuse to accept a sub-par or even average performance. And unfortunately the concept trailers from back when the game was still called Versus XIII look better than this.

 

[Emerson]

Thule: demo 1.0 I would have ranked as a 3.0 and the 2.0 demo as a 3.5, I really dislike it that much. Now I can honestly defend their decisions with FFXV, each game the series has been different (mostly) than any other game in the series, however I think this might be someplace I can not go as far as change. I would hope that this a 1-time attempt and FFXVI comes back to turn-based RPG ... but that's just me. I'm a fan of turn-based, it's ... calming I guess.

 

[Thule Esperada]

That's undestandable. Honestly I'd prefer a new turnbased main title in the FF series myself. But unfortunately Square wants this title to appeal to the masses and more casual audiences. Well, hopefully we'll see some more traditional RPGs from Square in the future. They did seem to realise that people still like those types of games with the success of Bravery Default.

 

[Emerson]

The problem with Bravely Default is that it is on a platform by a company I will not buy from. Just can't bring myself to do it... not after the Wii, WiiU, DS-3D . sigh ... every game I played on those 3 platforms were held back by the platform or the controls. but of course I also think gaming on a cell phone is akin to humping a dead moose, while you might get off, it's not going to be enjoyable.

 

[SquallKefka17]

A bit of a continuation to my previous post. So I tried the updated demo out and I have to say; They managed to make the combat actually enjoyable. The camera is further away during battles and lock-on works a bit better now.

There is still some severe balancing issues regarding enemy health. The bigger enemies still have an unreasonable amount of hp, and fighting them takes forever. This is especialy bad when you have 15+ imperial troops dropped on you, as you have a severe lack crowd control techniques. A single skirmish with some buffalos can suddenly turn into a 20 minute struggle that just drags on and on as more troops keep swarming in. In the final game enemy health needs to be drastically lowered. Theres no need for the local wildlife to feel like boss monsters.

My critisisms regarding other aspects of the demo remain unchanged, but it's good to see that the people working on the game seriously want it to be as good as possible. With further improvements I just might regain my lost interest in getting XV.

Yeah the camera improved a lot still though found myself losing sight of where Noctis was at times when there were a gang of 4 or 5 buffalos around. My Biggest criticism with it so far is lack of actions/attacks it feels very stripped down compared to a lot of its predecessors where combat was slower than XV but there were a lot more options in combat. The weapon equip menu feels pointless in the demo I'm not sure why it even there if you cant pick up any new weapons. I found myself spamming warp and warp strike a lot but running out of MP fast as a result.
Against the Behemoth boss my guys didn't win but didn't lose either and were sent off to bed/camp for their troubles?
Never seen that in a FF before yeah your not beating this boss off to bed with ya!!!